January 2018 NEW! Newsletter 82

IN MEXICO TODAY, widespread use of addictive drugs has become a major social and health problem, especially among youth. In this newsletter we discuss how extensive trafficking and consumption of drugs have created new challenges for the community health and disability programs we are involved with, and we describe a groundbreaking initiative run by and for disabled persons who got hooked on drugs and are now trying to stay off them by devoting their lives to assist others in need...

Note: This newsletter is "responsive". It will be nicely readable on tablets and even phones

September 2017 — Newsletter 81

In May 2017 I was invited by Health and Share Foundation (HSF) in Thailand, and its parent organization, SHARE (based in Japan), to visit their innovative community outreach program in Ubon-Rachathani province, on the Thai-Laos border. The purpose of my visit was to exchange ideas for “helping to enable the most vulnerable persons and groups” to better meet their pressing health-related needs.....

Note: This newsletter is "responsive". It will be nicely readable on tablets and even phones

December 2016 — Newsletter 80

What goes around comes around: Unexpected feedback on our books and activities - part 3. Since I first wrote and illustrated Where There is No Doctor in Spanish, in mountain villages of Western Mexico in the early 1970s, the book has been translated into at least 100 languages (that we know of), with more than three million copies in print. According to the the World Health Organization, it has become “the most widely used community health care handbook in the world.” We have received letters of appreciation from health workers and families in scores of different countries, often with stories of how they used the book to treat the sick, save lives, and take collective action to prevent disease. On a few occasions, families have been so pleased with the book, that they have named a new-born child after me. Here I give a couple of examples....

Note: This newsletter is "responsive". It will be nicely readable on tablets and even phones

August 2016 — Newsletter 79

A boy with CMT muscular atrophy – same as me

Three years ago, in 2013, I received an urgent email from a mother in Guadalajara, asking me if I knew anything about Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome. She told me her son, Tomás – born in July, 2003 — had been diagnosed with “CMT,” a progressive neurological condition beginning in early childhood. At birth he’d seemed normal. But hadn’t begun to walk until he was two-years-seven-months old. When he finally started walking, he had a strange wobbly gait with poor balance and frequent falls. As he grew, the awkward gait gradually became more pronounced, with notable weakness in his feet and lower legs. Weakness in his hands and fingers likewise became apparent, causing difficulty with fine manual skills.

Note: This newsletter is "responsive". It will be nicely readable on tablets and even phones

January, 2016

We are appealing to friends of HealthWrights to help sponsor the cost of an adapted wheelchair or other assistive device for a disabled child (or several, if you can). The cost ranges from USD $250 to $350, depending on its special features. If you are able to help cover the cost for a child – or a part of the cost – please do so. Read more here...

Raymundo, leader of the PROJIMO Duranguito workshop, adjusts a wheelchairthat the team made for this boy.

PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE FOR HEALTH AND LIBERATION IN LATIN AMERICA: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Booklet by David WernerAvailable as a large pdf file - opens in new window

When Rigoberto Delgado first arrived at PROJIMO in 2002 his hopes for the future were dismal. A few months before, at age 24, a car accident had left him quadriplegic (paralyzed from the neck down) for life. He had lost control of most of his body, including urine and bowel functions. He had limited use of his arms but couldn’t grasp with his hands. He was completely dependent on family members for all his basic needs. It was as humiliating as it was depressing.

Rigo had heard about PROJIMO – a community rehabilitation program run by disabled villagers in the town of Coyotitan, Sinaloa, Mexico – and decided to go there as a last resort. The fact that the program’s two leaders were spinal-cord-injured like himself gave him a bit of hope. If they could run a program helping disabled persons move ahead with their lives, perhaps he had a chance, too. But still he had misgivings. After all, the two women who directed PROJIMO were paraplegic (paralyzed from the waist down) and still had use of their hands – whereas his upper limbs were also involved. How could someone as incapacitated as he was ever dream of independent living? Yet he still held on to that dream. Depressed as he was, something inside him wouldn’t give up.